


Keeping Watch

by Rainwater_Apothecary



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, katara notices that zuko cares, short nightly writing, zuko just doing his best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 02:29:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28823739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainwater_Apothecary/pseuds/Rainwater_Apothecary
Summary: Katara thought she would only find Zuko falling asleep outside of her tent just the once. She is heartwarmingly mistaken.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 97





	Keeping Watch

Katara didn’t think much about Zuko falling asleep outside of her tent. He had come to apologize and make what amends she would allow, and though she didn’t _intend_ to give him anything, the effect had the opposite effect than what she assumed he was going for. Oh, the selfless, aggrieved princeling, waiting outside _her_ door for a chance to plead his case. Hah. Don’t make her laugh.

But even after they had gone on their ‘life-changing field trip’, as Toph laughingly called it, the waterbender kept catching the princeling nodding off somewhere near her quarters. 

Finally, she let her curiosity guide her. 

“Zuko?” She called quietly, her door open just enough for light to shine into the hall. 

“Mm.” He was falling asleep sitting up, his cheek propped up by his fist. _Cute, with his shaggy hair and casual garb._

“Why are you outside my door when you have a guest room all to yourself?” 

“M…keeping watch. So you can sleep.” Her face softened at his slurred words. They were saving the world. Going up against his father. The man who had cut his son down and banished him. 

And Zuko was worried about _her_. 

“Zuko… it’s late, you should sleep.” Her voice was impossibly soft and affectionate. The Fire Nation prince shook his head. 

Katara shook her head and settled beside him on the cold wooden floor. 

“Come on, Zuko…” 

He jumped when she touched his arm, instantly alert with one hand flying to the blade he kept on his hip. A little thing, just enough to end a life with brutal efficiency. She had seen him train with it, and it was the sight that reminded her that he was a trained soldier, the Fire Nation’s finest. He had been trained to kill. 

Yet he was willingly tutoring the agent of peace. 

She felt a soft smile dimple her cheeks. 

“It’s just me.” She spoke for his ears only, quiet as the night around them. His eyes glittered as he searched the hall, flickering from door to door to protect the friends that slumbered beyond. 

Oh. 

It wasn’t just her. 

Zuko had been protecting her family the entire time, and she somehow hadn’t seen it. 

Her heart warmed like the low glow of his eyes in the candlelight. 

“Goodnight, Zuko.” She rested her cheek on his shoulder. 

“Goodnight, Katara.” His shoulders relaxed and his eyelids began to droop. 

From his reflexes, she knew he would be awake between one blink and the next, if needbe. He would keep them safe. 

_What an odd turnaround destiny has._ The man by her side went from trying to entrap them to trying to keep them from being caught. 

It made her feel safe. 

_He_ made her feel safe. 

\- 

After the lightning, Katara took up the watch. While the Firelord slumbered, his healer settled her lower back against the thick, carved door behind her. 

As she brought her knees up to rest her temple on, her hand closed around the small blade on her hip. Zuko had trained her well, and she would rather die than let an enemy through the door behind her. 

And she really didn’t want to die, to put that in perspective.


End file.
